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…the following events unfolded. Each, to me, was tied to a larger thing.
As I got off work, a friend contacted me to see if I could hang out. She thought she was working that evening, but she wasn’t.
The economy is beginning to show signs of slowing down. This often impacts folks in the underground first, based on how they often make their living.
This altered one potential trajectory of the night, where I was going to go to a house show about 25 minutes from where I live, out in the county.
I think there will be more and more shows like this, filling a need for a certain sized venue for bands looking to play in the Baltimore area. The scene I came into in the early 1990s rarely involved shows in Baltimore City. How far will this go, and how many of these venues will keep the delicate balance necessary to stick around? When I look the venues up online, after asking a punk, they are often in row homes. I grew up in a row home. The walls are often thin.
After I hung out with my friend, I thought about my options. I had become more aware of a show at Holy Frijoles when I offered rides to the house show and one person declined, indicating they were heading there instead. The show was a benefit for Baltimore women’s shelters.
At least 5 million acts of domestic violence occur annually to women aged 18 and older.
The acts were Dared2Live, In Jest, Scorpion, and Wisdom & War. Each band brought their own brand of hardcore to ripping life. The person who tipped me off about the show arrived with some other folks. One of the people they were with quickly got in the pit. They soon emerged, having had their glasses smashed, with a potential black eye. The group then departed.
I had assumed that the era of 1990s underground bands, most notably Fugazi, stopping playing as soon as the mosh pit started in order to shut it down, was due to that style of dance being unfriendly to folks not in “fighting trim” seeking to get closer to the bands. That was part of it, but it was also a liability issue. I know of several people who have been injured on the “front lines” of recent Baltimore hardcore shows. I remember the “NO CROWD KILLING” sign up at the Ottobar. History tends to repeat itself. I guess the next move is for everyone to start putting out hair metal records?
As I headed off into the night, I reflected on the circumstances that lead me in a particular direction on the evening of Friday, February 7th, 2025. I can be willful, timey, and tidy. This trait in me is a reaction to chaos I grew up around and has edges of overcorrection. Still, it is important to let circumstance dictate the course of any particular evening. There are things you can control and things you cannot control. This is important to remember, especially now.
